Satechi on Thursday announced the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub, specifically intended for Apple's new iPad Pros with USB-C in place of Lightning.

The hub offers a 4K HDMI port, USB-C PD (Power Delivery) up to 18 watts, and a USB-A port with speeds up to 5 gigabits per second. Also present is a 3.5mm headphone jack, making up for Apple's removal.

Though meant for iPad Pros, the hub can be used with other USB-C devices such as Samsung phones, the Google Pixel 3, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2. The main criteria is that a device support USB-C PD and DisplayPort over USB-C in Alt mode.

Satechi is offering preorders of the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub for $44.99, $15 off full price. It should ship in mid December.

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Satechi on Thursday announced the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub, specifically intended for Apple's new iPad Pros with USB-C in place of Lightning.

The hub offers a 4K HDMI port, USB-C PD (Power Delivery) up to 18 watts, and a USB-A port with speeds up to 5 gigabits per second. Also present is a 3.5mm headphone jack, making up for Apple's removal.

Though meant for iPad Pros, the hub can be used with other USB-C devices such as Samsung phones, the Google Pixel 3, and the Microsoft Surface Book 2. The main criteria is that a device support USB-C PD and DisplayPort over USB-C in Alt mode.

Satechi is offering preorders of the Type-C Mobile Pro Hub for $44.99, $15 off full price. It should ship in mid December.

But where will I plug my USB-C headphones when this is plugged in? ;-)

This isn't a USB-C hub. A USB-C hub would take one USB-C port and turn it into several. This is a port replicator. It would be really helpful to the platform if manufacturers and journalists would be more precise about this.

Referring to the 3.5mm jack as a headphone jack is a misunderstanding. The 3.5mm jack is a two channel analog audio output. Headphones are just one specific example for how that 3.5mm jack can be used.

There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

A bit nutty there are so few connecting ports on these new iPad Pros. Pros like more connectivity to other professional tools and equipment, not less. Even so, I’ll be checking them out soon in the store. Excited to see the new Pencil.

Referring to the 3.5mm jack as a headphone jack is a misunderstanding. The 3.5mm jack is a two channel analog audio output. Headphones are just one specific example for how that 3.5mm jack can be used.

There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

Guess what! What if there are no power outlets near your rehearsal space. Oops.

Referring to the 3.5mm jack as a headphone jack is a misunderstanding. The 3.5mm jack is a two channel analog audio output. Headphones are just one specific example for how that 3.5mm jack can be used.

There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

Guess what! What if there are no power outlets near your rehearsal space. Oops.

Referring to the 3.5mm jack as a headphone jack is a misunderstanding. The 3.5mm jack is a two channel analog audio output. Headphones are just one specific example for how that 3.5mm jack can be used.

There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

Sound tech here... while I agree with you on convenience, I don’t agree with you on the tech. Analog signal paths are preventing the live sound industry from leapfrogging forward. Digital is the state of the art and the future. While your sound system may require analog inputs, not all do. Many consoles have USB interfaces. Guess what? Connect that to this hub and you get multiple channels of audio, or input digital audio directly into your digital console without decoding/encoding with possible loss of quality.

Pulling audio from a headphone jack has some issues. For starters, the left and right channels are not well shielded on iOS devices causing the channels to mix. You don’t get proper channel isolation. You also have to set the level so you don’t get distortion by overdriving the channel. You have to worry about noise in the line, etc.

When you use a professional audio interface, you get a better DAC (digital audio converter) to analog, or you keep the audio digital through the signal path which is much cleaner. Plus you can accomplish something around 96 channels of I/O with USB 3.0.

Referring to the 3.5mm jack as a headphone jack is a misunderstanding. The 3.5mm jack is a two channel analog audio output. Headphones are just one specific example for how that 3.5mm jack can be used.

There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

Sound tech here... while I agree with you on convenience, I don’t agree with you on the tech. Analog signal paths are preventing the live sound industry from leapfrogging forward. Digital is the state of the art and the future. While your sound system may require analog inputs, not all do. Many consoles have USB interfaces. Guess what? Connect that to this hub and you get multiple channels of audio, or input digital audio directly into your digital console without decoding/encoding with possible loss of quality.

Pulling audio from a headphone jack has some issues. For starters, the left and right channels are not well shielded on iOS devices causing the channels to mix. You don’t get proper channel isolation. You also have to set the level so you don’t get distortion by overdriving the channel. You have to worry about noise in the line, etc.

When you use a professional audio interface, you get a better DAC (digital audio converter) to analog, or you keep the audio digital through the signal path which is much cleaner. Plus you can accomplish something around 96 channels of I/O with USB 3.0.

Referring to the 3.5mm jack as a headphone jack is a misunderstanding. The 3.5mm jack is a two channel analog audio output. Headphones are just one specific example for how that 3.5mm jack can be used.

There are too many examples to list as to how this elimination will affect users. Here’s one that would affect me regularly. You’re having a music rehearsal. You pull up some Apple Music, You Tube videos, whatever, as a group is working out a song. The audio MUST be fed into a sound system for this to be useful. Okay. So I buy a USB-C to two channel analog audio output adapter and guess what! My iPad is running low on charge! Oops. Better have a dock so I can charge and have a two channel analog audio output at the same time.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

Guess what! What if there are no power outlets near your rehearsal space. Oops.

My point is we can all invent scenarios to defeat any other scenario.

Yes indeed, but they are not equal in the practicality of a solution.

Although you have a partial point, you are creating a problem that you should have solved if it is something you rely on. You paid a grand for an iPad and then you didn't outfit it for your use. That's a little bit on you. As a musician, how many cables and connectors do you already carry? Presumably you already have adapters to go from 3.5mm jack to 1/4" and splitters and mono jacks and stereo jacks and all that. I hope you don't want a 1/4" jack on your iPad so that you can plug directly into an amp with an included Apple cable. Odds are you are already using an adapter to go from the 3.5mm jack to 1/4" unless you are plugging into a boombox. Besides, one of your bandmates probably has a bluetooth speaker if you don't.

Something like this is close to a necessity for the new iPad Pro if you want to do anything more Pro than doodling.

That’s an extraordinary amount of ignorant BS for such a short post. I’m presently reading AI and compiling a summary report on news/trends in Apple tech for a client using split screen. I’ve just finished the first of two book projects I’m working on, and earlier this morning gave a presentation using the device I’m typing this on — a regular iPad (not Pro) with keyboard. I do all kinds of productive work on this thing, and I don’t require a hub or even a single adapter — not even a power cord — to do that sort of thing all day long.

Maybe next time try actually using the device — or at least asking people who are productive how they use the device — before exposing yourself as uninformed and unaware.

This isn't a USB-C hub. A USB-C hub would take one USB-C port and turn it into several. This is a port replicator. It would be really helpful to the platform if manufacturers and journalists would be more precise about this.

You’re not wrong, but ... words change meaning sometimes. The word “hub” is literally in the title of this product (and every similar product) because it is a “hub” of productive extra ports. Nowadays, only robots say things like “port replicator” or “facsimile machine” or “compact disc.”

Quite simply, If there were two identical iPad Pros available today and the only difference is that one has a 3.5mm analog output and the other doesn’t, I would be buying the one with the 3.5mm jack. Apparently many others would rather not have a 3.5mm analog output. Since there is no choice it is a moot point.

Hopefully I am making a point. The 3.5mm two channel analog audio output cannot be worked around like a floppy or optical drive could be.

I don’t think you’ve quite made your case. In the first place, an iPad (Pro or not) is extremely unlikely to run out of juice in the course of a day. If it is running low, it’s because you failed to charge it overnight, or failed to plug it in during numerous previous opportunities prior to your rehearsal, or didn’t get a small audio adapter with pass-through USB-C (numerous inexpensive ones available). Apple’s USB-C to 3.5mm adapter is a whole nine dollars, though it lacks the passthrough — so you might have to spend $10-$15 on a third-party one. If lack of charging opportunities is a regular problem for you, maybe consider a battery pack.

In short, your scenario is implausible unless the user is fairly witless in their planning or lacks the imagination to prepare for their rehearsal with the proper accessories. As the MacBook and iPad have well proven, long battery life more than covers for a single port for 95 percent of cases — and for the rest, a single adapter or other accessory is a trivial expense and requires trivial forethought.

Yes, but look at it's customer reviews on reliability instead of promoting and marketing on behalf of this brand. Most of them are branded same repackaged devices under different names. All of them suffer with reilability issues. Go to Amazon and read negatibve reviews to see what it realy is. Positive reviews are usualy by people who work with them fisrt days and are clueless. Then 2 months later disaster comes on these hubs and they die. Typical USB-C hub reliability. There are very few USB-C hubs worth attention at this time and even what's offered on Apple inline store is poor quality.